Thank you very much, Chair.
Thank you, gentlemen, for your comments today. They were great presentations. We enjoy the work done by the members you represent in the wood industry. We respect and appreciate all of that.
Both of you mentioned in your presentations about believing it's not picking one side or the other. The problem the official opposition has with this bill is that we believe it does. There is no doubt that there is great innovation and technology happening in the wood industry. We have been studying this for quite some time now. We've heard from a wide range of people in the industry, and I think we can all agree with that 100%.
The wording here in this bill that we have the issue with is, “the Minister shall give preference to”. I agree that if wood were on an equal playing field, that would be much better. Had the bill read, “the Minister shall give equal preference”, or something to that effect, I don't think we'd have as much issue with that.
I think, Mr. Giroux, although you said that the spirit of the legislation is this, we think by the way it's written that is not necessarily the case.